Best Friends and Brothers
by ninjadevil2000
Summary: When Billy gets hurt on a simple mission, Freddy starts to blame himself, thinking that if he had seen the monster, he could've kept Billy from getting injured. Freddy worries about his friend and brother, but someone visits them and makes sure that Freddy knows there's no reason for him to blame himself.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Shazam, Billy Batson or any of the characters, or any other DC properties. Unless you count collectible items that I've spent thousands of dollars on, then yeah. I own a lot of merch. I really want a Batarang replica but I definitely don't have the funds to make a purchase like that.**

**Author's Note: Okay, so I was stupid and completely forgot until after I was halfway finished with this that Billy's suit is bulletproof. And I really didn't feel like rewriting it. I thought about having Billy injured in child form so it would be accurate, but I would have to write in a lot more transforming and lightning and I was being lazy so this is what you get. So, this injury couldn't really happen to him. I've just been wanting to write Billy!whump for a long time so just deal with it. I really want you guys to like this so please leave a review or favorite. It means a lot. **

* * *

Billy spun around, scanning for any enemies that still lived. Freddy, Eugene, Darla, and Pedro did the same. Mary had left for college the previous month, so they had lost one crimefighting sister, but she visited whenever she could, flying home faster than a plane could bring her home.

That was how Victor and Rosa had discovered their childrens' abilities. Mary had come home three weeks ago for the weekend, flying home and landing in the backyard. She had planned to arrive at a time when both Victor and Rosa were at work, but Rosa had been off that day and the younger kids had forgotten to let Mary know.

Now, with Mary back at school and Victor and Rosa having comprehended the nature of their kids' superheroing, the Vasquez kids were taking down some weird creatures. They had been innocently hanging out in their separate rooms, doing homework, watching stupid Youtube videos, or in Eugene's case, playing video games against, according to him, some asshole called Noobmaster69, when a loud explosion jolted them all from their thoughts.

Within seconds the kids had converged in the living room and left the house to where they could see smoke on the horizon. They transformed into their superhero forms before flying as a team to the sight of the smoke.

What happened next was a blur. The source of the smoke seemed to be a car explosion cause by about a dozen small creatures eating away the metal of the car. What the creatures were, none of the kids knew. They just knew that they had to be stopped less more incidents occur.

The trick was to jump on the creatures and then shout _the name_, pulverizing the creatures into a fine black dust. Billy laughed to himself when he thought about how whatever people lived nearby would've certainly gotten a light show that evening.

Darla seemed resistant to the idea of killing the creatures at first, but after one leapt onto her back and pulled at her hair with its teeth, she wasn't near as resistant and took down three monsters right there.

When it seemed that all the creatures had been killed and the cement pavement bore a coating of black powdered monster, the five kids looked at each other.

The smoke cleared and they all fist bumped each other, celebrating another victory, but one last monster crept from the shadows and raised a clawed hand.

"Billy, watch out!" Darla screamed, but the monster was too fast. Just as Billy turned, the monster's claw took up a broken piece of metal from the cement floor and jammed it into the hero's side.

* * *

Freddy watched the entire scene as though in slow motion. It seemed to take Billy an age to fall. His hand went to his side and he let out a cry of pain before time returned to normal. Freddy ran to his best friend's side, quickly helping him to the ground.

"Billy, stay with me, you're gonna be alright," Freddy panted. Pedro dispelled the monster before gathering around Billy next to Eugene and Darla. Billy was breathing heavily, pain evident on his face. "We need to get him home," Freddy said, taking charge. Freddy winced as he took hold of the metal pipe and pulled it from Billie's side. The scream that came from the boy's mouth made all his siblings cry out themselves.

"Billy," Freddy said, trying to sound comforting and not like the nervous wreck he was. "Billy, you're gonna need to transform, okay? I can't carry you when you're like this."

Billy bit his lip and nodded. His hands shook at his side as he muttered, "Sh'zam."

The lightning came down, leaving Billy a fourteen year old again. Freddy couldn't help but swear as he took in how pale Billy was and how much blood was exiting the wound in his side. The hoodie that Billy was wearing was quickly stained red and the boy groaned on the ground.

Gently, with as much delicacy as he could, Freddy picked Billy up and quickly jumped into the air, leaving the three to follow quickly. As he landed in the backyard of their house, Freddy banged on the glass door, unable to open the door himself with Billy in his arms. Rosa and Victor heard, opening the door quickly; Rosa screamed when she saw Billy.

"Take him to the sofa," Victor said. Billy's head lolled to one side as Freddy laid him down on the couch.

Eugene, Pedro, and Darla had arrived now. They had transformed back into their child forms, and Darla was sobbing into Pedro's leg from a few feet away.

"Rosa, call 911!" Victor yelled, but Billy shook his head quickly.

"No! You can't," he croaked out.

Freddy took over. "We can't take him to a hospital," he said quickly, stopping Rosa just as she was about to hit dial.

"Freddy, this is serious," Rosa said.

"Rosa, no!" Freddy quickly stood and snatched the phone away from her. "Please, trust us. Okay, we have a friend who's a doctor, okay? She'll take care of Billy."

Freddy pulled out his own phone, throwing glances to Billy at his side every few seconds as he called a number.

"Dr. Snow? We need you quickly. Billy's been hurt and it – it's bad, Cait."

"I'll be there in just a minute," Caitlin Snow replied.

"Was that Caitlin?" Billy asked weakly from the sofa.

Freddy nodded. "Yeah, she'll be here in just a minute and fix you up, Billy."

Billy nodded, before wincing. Freddy had transformed now too and was sitting next to Billy, a hand on his friend's shoulder, as Rosa dabbed her most recently adopted son's forehead with a damp towel. The other three kids were talking loudly as Victor paced.

Billy's hands, blood coated as they were, drifted up and covered his ears. Freddy immediately noticed this and knew what was happening. Billy was having sensory overload. The pain, the sounds, the fear mounting up around him.

Freddy turned to Eugene, Pedro, and Darla. "Guys, you need to go into the other room, okay? Billy's having sensory overload again." The three kids immediately looked guilty and left, Pedro scooping Darla into his arms and holding her tightly.

"It'll be okay, Billy will be alright," Freddy heard him say to the girl as they passed. Freddy hoped desperately that what Pedro was saying was true.

"Is that better?" Freddy asked, looking at Billy. The boy nodded, retrieving his hands from his face, pressing them to his side once more.

Freddy wasn't certain of whether or not Billy was aware of much at the moment but it lifted his heart slightly that Billy was still cohesive enough to reply.

"Who's Doctor Snow?" Rosa asked, her voce quiet. "And sensory overload? Since when does Billy have that?"

Freddy looked up at her. "Doctor Snow is – well – she's a doctor and, long story short, she's the doctor who takes care of us when we get hurt."

"You mean, you've all been hurt before?"

Freddy pressed his lips together before nodding. "All of us, except Darla," he said after a moment. "She's too fast for anyone to catch, even Billy can't catch her sometimes. Isn't that right?" Freddy said, looking down at his brother and friend.

Billy, his eyes closed, nodded, his lips smiling slightly. "She's always been the fastest," he slurred.

A second and a whoosh of wind later, a young woman with dark blonde hair was standing in the middle of the living room, cutting Freddy off from answering the other questions. "Doctor Snow," Freddy cried, relieved at the sight of their superhero associate. Caitlin Snow was a genius scientist who had helped them out of numerous scrapes over the past few months. They had met her when Darla had had a run-in with the one and only Flash. When the Vasquez kids had teamed up with the Flash and his team a few weeks later, they became friends with Caitlin and she had insisted that they always call her up for help if they ever needed her.

Now, here she was, resolute and focused as ever, helping them out of yet another scrape, albeit this one much more serious than others.

"What happened?" she asked without hesitation, kneeling down and gently pulling Billy's hands away from the wound. He hissed in pain but allowed her to unzip the hoodie and pull away the t-shirt he was wearing.

Freddy quickly explained the monsters and the fight and then Billy getting stabbed, watching all the while as Caitlin cleaned Billy's wound, stitched it up, and bandaged it. Victor and Rosa were a little ways off, both nervous. Freddy figured they had never seen one of their children hurt like this.

It seemed like Caitlin was bandaging Billy up for hours but it was really only a few minutes until Caitlin had washed her hands and was conversing with Victor and Rosa. Freddy stayed next to Billy, watching him. Caitlin had given him some pain pills so, luckily, he'd fallen asleep before Caitlin had begun the stitches.

Now, Freddy heard Caitlin talking with Victor and Rosa, but he wasn't listening. He was thinking back on the fight earlier that evening. _If only I'd seen the monster, I could've gotten rid of it right there and then before it hurt Billy_, he thought to himself.

"Hey, I know that look," Caitlin said, laying a hand on his shoulder. "I've seen that way too many times on Barry. Don't beat yourself up about this, Freddy. You're probably thinking about how if you could've seen the creature or whatever, you could've stopped it."

Freddy nodded, looking at her ashamedly.

The doctor smiled kindly. "Don't do that, Freddy. It won't help Billy. Just be there for him. Help him, and that'll do a lot more for him than you beating yourself up about it. It'll help you feel better too, alright?"

Freddy smiled at her. "Thanks, Caitlin."

She nodded.

"Are you heading back to Central City now?"

"No, I figured I'd wait around until Billy woke up, then I'd leave you and your family to take care of him."

Freddy smiled again. "I really appreciate you doing this, Caitlin. Being there for us, for Billy."

Caitlin smiled in reply.

"Freddy?" said Rosa, approaching him. "Listen, why don't you get some sleep okay?"

"But ––" Freddy objected, but Rosa held up her hand.

"No, you need rest. Victor already sent the others off to bed. Now, if you're determined to stay with Billy, I'll make you a pallet on the floor, but you'd be much more comfortable in your own bed."

Freddy shook his head. "I should stay with Billy, it's my ––" but Freddy stopped himself. "I'll sleep down here."

Rosa smiled at him. "Alright then, I'll grab you some blankets. Doctor," she continued, looking to Caitlin. "Would you like some coffee or tea?"

Caitlin smiled back. "Coffee would be great, thank you."

A few minutes later, Freddy was collapsed on the floor next to the couch. He could hear Victor, Rosa, and Caitlin just a few feet away, talking in the kitchen and, despite his worry, he fell asleep quickly.

* * *

"Freddy, wake up, sweetheart." He stirred. Rosa was rubbing his shoulder. "Billy's awake."

Freddy sat up and looked over at the couch. He grabbed his crutch from beside him and hobbled a couple feet over to the couch. Billy was awake and talking to Caitlin. When Freddy reached him, he looked up.

"Hey, Freddy," Billy said weakly.

"Hey, Billy, how're you feeling?" he asked tentatively.

"Been better," he said. He tried to push himself up into a sitting position, but instantly, four voices told him to lay back down.

Billy shot an irritated look at all of them but did as he was told, flopping back down on the sofa and pressing a hand to his side again.

"How much does it hurt?" Caitlin asked. "On a scale of one to ten."

"Maybe a two," Billy said with a noncommittal shrug.

The four in the room glared at him again and Billy rolled his eyes. "God, fine. It's maybe about a seven."

Caitlin nodded. "Okay, then." She pulled a bottle of medicine out of her pocket. "I want you to take two of these every four hours, okay? With your powers and accelerated healing, it shouldn't be more than a week until you're completely healed. And I'd resist transforming for a few days at least. The strain of exchanging bodies could slow down the healing process."

Billy nodded, although as Freddy watched, he could tell that it was grudgingly. Caitlin stood up from the couch and turned to Rosa, handing her the pills. She said, "Other than that medicine, there's not much the needs to be done for him. Just make sure he rests and doesn't do anything very strenuous. I'd recommend staying home from school for that time as well."

Victor and Rosa nodded.

After pulling out her phone and shooting off a quick text by the looks of it, she said, "Well, I'd best take my leave." She smiled around. "Take care of yourself Billy, Freddy," she said to the two boys. They smiled at her and raised a hand in farewell.

A second later, there was another loud whoosh of air and Caitlin was gone.

Billy sighed, covering his eyes with his hands.

"You need anything, son?" Victor asked.

Billy shook his head. "Just to be off this couch," he said resignedly.

Victor smiled, ruffling Billy's hair and then Freddy's before going back into the kitchen.

Rosa came forward and knelt next to the couch. She stroke Billy's hair. "You'll be alright, sweetheart."

Billy nodded. "Yeah." He looked down and saw the bandages on his side, a hand still covering the would protectively. I'm – uh – sorry 'bout the sofa," he murmured.

"Oh, it's okay, sweetheart," Rosa replied soothingly. "Don't you worry about it." She smiled. "Get some rest, okay? It's about three a.m. so I'll wake you up later for your medicine and some breakfast."

Billy nodded. "'Kay."

Rosa smiled at him. "You get back to sleep too, Freddy."

Freddy nodded. As Rosa left to join Victor in the kitchen, Freddy looked at Billy again. "You sure you're okay?" he asked.

Billy blinked at Freddy. "I'm not gonna die on you, Freddy." His voice was humorous but there was a sincerity in his eyes, a truthfulness. They had only met a few months ago but after everything they'd gone through, Billy and Freddy were the closest of friends and brothers.

Freddy squeezed Billy's shoulder. "You know, you really had me scared there for a while, Billy. When that – that thing stabbed you, you got so pale and shaky. And then you passed out, and I ––" Freddy stopped. "You're my best friend, Billy. And I know we do what we do because it's our responsibility and everything, but – just – I don't know, try to a bit more careful, maybe?"

Billy smiled. "Sure thing, brother." And with that, Bill turned his head into the side of the cushion, and Freddy crawled back into the blankets on the floor. Within minutes, the brothers were asleep.


End file.
